When it comes to recruiting businesses, officials should welcome all the help they can get.

When it comes to recruiting businesses, economic development officials should welcome all the help they can get. The Cape Fear region got a boost of sorts from two different sources last week, as large private businesses that benefit from commercial growth certified three industrial sites as development-ready.CSX Corp. designated a Brunswick County industrial tract as a "Select Site," while Duke Energy chose tracts in Navassa and at the Pender-New Hanover County line to participate in its site readiness program.Neither program guarantees that jobs will come. There may be some companies on the hunt, but like all recruiting missions, the company doing the looking holds most of the cards. What the designations do is tell industries looking to relocate or build manufacturing plants that their fellow businessmen have found land that already has gone through a number of the steps required to permit development, and that the site has infrastructure and excellent access to transportation, including rail lines and the state port. In other words, a company that chooses one of the sites will be able to build and begin production faster because a lot of the work already has been done.The chosen sites are not new to those who live in the Cape Fear area. The U.S. 421 corridor in New Hanover and Pender counties is heavily industrial, and the tract Duke Energy chose includes the site of the former BASF vitamin manufacturing plant. The two Brunswick County sites also have been marketed for development. Continental Tire and Caterpillar considered property at or near the Mid Atlantic Industrial Rail Park, but chose to locate in other Southern states.But both companies have a vested interest in bringing in more manufacturers: It means more business for them. CSX is a railroad company that would benefit from more businesses to take advantage of the rail line that runs through the Mid Atlantic park, while Duke Energy would get more commercial power customers.That financial interest gives the two companies strong incentive to help market the sites, giving local economic development organizations a hand in recruiting employers to the region.The inclusion of the Navassa site is especially encouraging, since the town has failed to share in the prosperity of its northern Brunswick County neighbors. Yet it contains several abandoned industrial sites along the river.Businesses always look to reduce their costs, and developing the property is a large part of the front-end costs. State and local incentives that have become virtual requirements will continue to play a role, but companies look at the bigger picture. They want sites that are zoned for industry, that have much of the infrastructure they will require and that are located where they can get their products to market quickly. Rail lines, good roads and the state port are assets that cannot be downplayed.The announcements from CSX and Duke are not likely to generate the kind of enthusiasm that would go along with notice that hundreds of jobs were coming to the region. But because businesses have many choices when it comes to location, having a couple of businesses on the lookout for new customers can only help efforts to lure employers that pay good wages and provide their workers with benefits.